On a typical weekend, if you’re at a bad party, you can call it a night, call Safe-rides, and make it back to your dorm in one piece. Then again, if you’re at a good party, you can live it up, sleep until noon the next day, and then relax your hangover away until it’s time to get back to the daily grind.

On Spring Break, however, once you get off the plane at your final destination, you’re in it for the long haul. Though you anticipate your vacay being the highlight of the semester, it can be grueling to go all day, every day, and, being far from home, there’s a lot that can go wrong. Nothing is suckier than getting sick in a foreign place, fighting with your tripmates, or getting into a sticky situation in an unfamiliar place. Make sure you make it back to school in one piece this spring, by taking a few simple precautions.

1. Do your research.

Get some maps, or travel guides with tips, before you leave. Ask people you trust if they can recommend a good hotel. Try to brush up on the local rules or laws of the place you’re headed. The last thing you want to do is get lost, check into a lodging that is reminiscent of hostel, or get in trouble for something you didn’t even think was wrong.

2. Pack wisely.

Flip flops might be a necessity, but what about when you take a day trip that requires walking around all day to take in the sights? Pack a comfortable pair of shoes just in case that long night of clubbing wore out your feet. And even if you think you’re going somewhere tropical and plan to be in a bathing suit all day, it can’t hurt to throw a sweater in your suitcase for when the temperature drops after dark. Read More »

FML.

You roll out from underneath your covers to turn off your alarm clock. You’ve got a very busy day ahead of you: three classes, a group meeting and a date with your roommates to catch up on Glee from the past three weeks. Everything has been so busy lately you haven’t had time to eat a meal, let alone get your weekly dose of Finn. If you’re not sleeping, you’re in class, and if you’re not there you’re in the library, oftentimes well past midnight.

And it’s finally catching up to you.

As you try to rouse yourself out of bed, you feel it. Your head hurts, you can’t swallow and your whole body just feels achy. You walk to the bathroom to wash up, hoping it’s just one of those “I slept with my mouth open” deals; it will go away in a few minutes.

Only it doesn’t. In fact, bending over the sink to splash some water on your face makes you dizzy and angers the little men pounding hammers against the inside of your skull. It’s official: you’re sick.

“Oh god. Could it be Swine Flu??”

You crawl back to your room and sit down at your computer. You enter your symptoms into WebMD figure out your diagnosis/rule out any deadly diseases. You learn that you either have the flu… or meningitis. Either way, you need to take your temperature, which you cannot do since you don’t have a thermometer. Maybe you can just sleep it off?

Before getting back into bed, you send a quick email your professors/group members/roommates to let them know that you are sick. You do not mention the word “flu”; you don’t need anyone sending you to the Swine Flu quarantine, thankyouverymuch. Read More »